Return To Harmony
by sylverflixx
Summary: Van and Hitomi are married with a son and daughter. Gaia is at peace. Everything is perfect - or so it seems. But what happens when Hitomi gets a disturbing vision and another girl from the Mystic Moon arrives?
1. A Vision of Light and Dark

**Disclaimer: Vision of Escaflowne is not mine! I'm still suing for rights to it in court, though but that could take time… **

WARNING: This is an extremely lame attempt at trying to concoct a fanfiction. Hey, the adviser of our schoolpaper did say I had to practice my writing this summer… And so ladies and gents, the result.

RETURN TO HARMONY

_Chapter One: A Vision of Light and Dark_

Hitomi looked out of the window in the large library of the castle of Fanelia and sighed. There really was no reason for her sorrow. The scene outside was a perfect picture of a peaceful and thriving kingdom. And that was exactly what Fanelia was right now. After she had married Van, they had both worked together to bring Fanelia back in greater glory and for the most part, they had succeeded. The kingdom had flourished under their reign and it was still flourishing today.

Trade with other kingdoms was at an all time high and the war that had so ravaged Gaia back then was only a lingering memory that the happy times now fought to banish. The kingdoms that had been affected by the war had stood up again and rebuilt themselves with all of Gaia helping one another. Peace, a long-hoped for peace, had finally been achieved and people could now go to sleep without having to worry about attacks or whether they would live to see another day.

The queen of Fanelia ran a hand through her long, honey colored locks reminiscing. It had seemed like only yesterday that she had come to Gaia from Earth – or what the people here called the Mystic Moon – following a dragon-slaying angel she had later come to know was Van de Fanel, prince of Fanelia. It had seemed like only yesterday that they had embarked on that journey that shaped Gaia's future until now. Only yesterday when the evil had been vanquished. Only yesterday…

Memories flashed in her mind and clouded her jade green eyes. Of when Van had proposed marriage to her and she had accepted. Of the first few happy years of their ruling Fanelia together. Of when Hitomi had given birth to their eldest son Reine and then to their daughter Larissa. She had a lot to be thankful for, she realized. Well then why was she in such an ungrateful mood today?

Restlessly, Hitomi stood up and determinedly began to walk outside of the library. She knew what the matter with her was. Van. He had gone to the annual conference that was held by the leaders of all the kingdoms in order to ensure that peace was maintained in Gaia. He had also taken a very excited Reine with him, although Hitomi had been apprehensive of her son going in the first place.

"Relax, 'tomi," Van had told her, laughing. "Nothing's going to happen to Reine. Besides, he'll be eighteen next year and then he'd have to officially accompany me to the conference. I just want to take him this year for him to have a feel of it."

Reine, of course, had been very willing to go, considering that his best friends Stefan Schezar and Prince Thadis of Asturia were going to be there, too.

Hitomi didn't begrudge them their time together as father and son but… damn. She missed Van, much as she hated to admit it. She knew they could talk to each other in their minds but it just wasn't the same as him being here with her.

Hitomi smiled as she saw that she had already reached her destination: the palace kitchen. It was usually a hectic place but it seemed somewhat quiet today. She offered smiles and a few pleasantries to the servants there; they were already used to the little eccentricities of their queen to mind. Birgitte, the head cook, set a bowl of sugared fruits in front of her and Hitomi thanked the cook. _When in sadness, doubt, or fear, it's always helpful to have a little sugar_, Hitomi thought as she happily popped a sugared cherry into her mouth.

Chewing it, she realized she was grateful for the time alone. Her daughter Larissa had gone to visit her friend Lady Rosanne. It was nice to have a little peace, Hitomi thought.

She was just placing a raspberry into her mouth when she felt it. A spot somewhere beneath her neck was tingling. Shocked, Hitomi dropped the raspberry. It was her pendant. It was _glowing…_

"What…?"

Before the stunned queen had a chance to process what was happening, she was plunged into darkness.

All around her was black and she seemed to be floating in a nothingness, a void, a vacuum. Nervous, Hitomi looked around.

It occurred to her that she was probably having a vision. But she had never had a vision like this before. She was starting to get scared when an image appeared before her.

Right in the center was a small glass circle, with a strange insignia that she did not recognize. On either side of the circle she saw two girls and both had one arm outstretched to the glass circle like they were reaching for it. Hitomi realized with another fresh wave of shock that the two girls looked alike, identical. Long, wavy hair, thick-lashed eyes, pale skin, slender figures, and delicate features. The only thing that was different though, was their coloring. One had blond hair and blue eyes, while the other had black hair and violet eyes.

Still startled and very much confused, Hitomi wondered what all of this meant. Out of nowhere, as if a seeming answer to her silent question, a voice replied.

_Only in unity can there be balance. Only when they join together can there be peace. Let the dark meet light and the light meet dark and when they complete the broken circle, let harmony return._

Bewildered, Hitomi absorbed the message. "Who's there?" she called out. "Who's doing this?"

The only answer she got was a slap on the head. A hard one.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed, rather unqueenlike rubbing her head. When she looked around her, she was back in the kitchen. No dark void, no circular crystal, no strange girls and no disembodied voices.

"I thought I'd find you here!"

Hitomi spun around to see who had bumped her head. "Merle! What did you do that for?"

Merle giggled. "You looked so strange sitting there. You weren't moving and you seemed to be staring at something in front of you. I thought I'd bring you back to reality. Daydreaming?"

"No," Hitomi replied, grinning. "I just… Ah, it's nothing."

Merle narrowed her eyes in scrutiny. "Are you sure…? You looked spaced-out there for a moment…"

"I-I'm fine, Merle. You were searching for me? Why?"

"Hm? Oh, I just wanted to tell you that Millerna's arrived," Merle looked at Hitomi again. She looked a bit pale, the cat-lady thought. Kind of when she got bad visions… Merle shook the thought away.

"Millerna's here?" Hitomi stood up. "Well come on, let's go greet her."

"Well aren't you being bossy. Must be 'cause King Van's away. But are you _really_ sure you're alright?"

"I'm really sure. Let's go. Mustn't keep Millerna waiting."

Merle sighed. Sometimes, Hitomi could be secretive as well as stubborn. Merle bounded off after the queen who was hurriedly walking out of the kitchen.

Hitomi bit her lower lip as she walked off to greet Millerna. It had been a vision. A very disturbing vision because she hadn't gotten anything concrete from it. Just a few strange words and an even stranger picture. When she had visions they were usually clear in meaning. Sometimes they would be murky or cloudy but they made sense. Not like this. What was it? What did it mean?

For the umpteenth time Hitomi wished Van were back. She needed his help in making sense out of this. Hitomi knew she could always tell Van via their telepathic link but… Did she really want him to worry over this? The vision hadn't implied anything bad… Yet. Hitomi sighed. She would tell Van but only once he had returned.

Turning a corner with Merle beside her Hitomi saw rippling gold hair and she grinned. The woman with the said hair turned and smiled at Hitomi.

"Millerna."

Van Slanzar de Fanel, King of Fanelia, looked at the sheaf of papers before him without actually reading them. Other matters were running around his head, not the least of which was how much he missed his wife. But that wasn't the only thing. He had seen the heads of various kingdoms arrive this morning in preparation for the conference the next day and one of those heads had given Van a strange feeling.

Ever since the downfall of the Zaibach empire, Van had learned the importance of trusting his instincts. And they were now clearly telling him something was wrong with one of the heads. Frustrated, he set his quill down.

He had just talked to Hitomi through their mind link and confided his apprehensions. Hitomi had, of course, helped him to make sense of his jumbled thoughts but his uneasiness remained. The king had also sensed something was troubling his wife and he intended to ask her about it later.

"Father?"

Van looked up, startled at the voice. His son, Reine Carrick de Fanel, stood at the doorway. Even now, how his son looked always managed to mildly surprise Van. He had Van's unruly dark hair and Hitomi's expressive green eyes. The grin on his face was purely his father's, though.

"Come in, Reine. And what are you grinning about?"

"You, dad. You have that confused look on your face. Paperwork?"

Van blanched at the reminder of all the paper before him. Reine laughed at the expression on his father's face.

"No seriously, dad," Reine perched on an armchair before Van. "I can see something's wrong. What is it?"

It was hard not to be proud of his son, Van thought. Reine was both clever and perceptive, albeit a bit arrogant and conceited at times.

Van sighed. "Did you see the two new kingdoms who joined the Allied Conference this morning?"

Reine frowned as he tried to remember. "Oh, you mean the kingdoms of Gealla and Amren?"

Van blinked. "Which one is which?"

"Stefan told me the tall, distinguished guys were the ones from Gealla and the ones in dark cloaks were from Amren. What about them?"

"They just give me a strange feeling…" Van muttered.

"Strange feeling, dad? Which one?"

"I'm not sure. Either. Both. It's just the kind of feeling that you get… something like a calm before the storm. Like you're in the shadow of something big that's approaching."

Van and Reine sat there for a while in a companionable silence. It was his son that broke it. "Father, Stefan and Thadis are going out horse riding by the meadows. May I go with them?"

Van quirked a brow. "Feel free, Reine. Just be back in time for the Welcoming Ball."

At the reminder of the ball, Reine blanched and it was Van's turn to laugh. He knew of his son's aversion to parties.

A resigned sigh. "I'll be back in time, dad."

Van watched as Reine walked out of the room and turned his attention back to the papers, the nagging feeling still prickling the back of his thoughts.

Reine flattened against the saddle whooping for joy and feeling the wind rush past his hair as his steed, Destry, galloped across the fields. Of course, the young lord of Fanelia would have preferred flying but his father had warned him against displaying his Atlantian wings in public.

Beside him, his best friends Stefan Schezar and Prince Thadis of Asturia were also riding. Thadis gave the signal and together the three friends pulled back the reigns of their horses. Simultaneously, the stallions skidded to a stop and the three of them burst out laughing.

When they had regained their breaths, they led their horses down to a trot. It was Stefan who broke the silence, "What took you so long, Reine?"

Reine grinned. "I stopped by and chatted with father for a while," he replied.

Stefan looked just like a younger version of his father Allen but his hair wasn't so long and the eyes that were always glinting with mischief were the same amber color as his mother's. Thadis on the other hand, had dark hair that was always neatly combed and the same ice blue eyes that Queen Eries had.

The three had grown up together and were nearly inseparable. Their friendship was known throughout most of the lands of Gaia.

'"Hmmm… Seems like we're not the only ones who want to have a romping around here," Thadis mused.

"What're you talking about, princey?" Stefan asked and managed to earn himself a glare from Thadis.

"Those men from Amren seem to like this place, too," Thadis discreetly nodded to five men standing by the edge of the fields.

Reine frowned. "How long have they been there?"

"Not too long. I just noticed them," Thadis shrugged. "Why?"

"Father was saying something about them a while earlier… About how he felt uneasy around them and how he thought there was something strange about them."

"Well, I agree with King Van. There is something strange about those fellows," Stefan said.

The three of them looked at each other, gathered their reigns and galloped away from the piercing looks that Reine was sure the men from Amren were giving them. Suddenly, it seemed like a chill had fallen over their afternoon.

Reine tried not to look back but as they rode away he could feel five pairs of eyes boring into him. Not able to resist the impulse, the young prince of Fanelia looked back.

The five cloaked men from Amren were gone.

"I don't see what you're worried about, Lightner. Everything is going according to plan."

"You know perfectly well what I'm worried about. All of our planning will amount to nothing if she arrives."

"What are you talking about? She's on the Mystic Moon. So far away. She doesn't even know the truth of her own existence let alone the existence of Gaia. How do you expect her to find her way here?"

"Do not underestimate her. She is powerful, though she does not know it."

"Your worries are minimal. I can vouch for the fact that she will not leave the Mystic Moon."

"You know that she is the only one with the capabilities to ruin everything we have planned for."

"True. But you also forget the fact the I have Erin under my control. Even if she does come here, she knows nothing about Erin or how to stop us."

"She has the other half. She is the other half."

"She will not find us. And she will not find Erin. I have her under close watch."

"Close watch? Make it closer. Every breath that she takes is a threat. If you must, kill her."

"I will."


	2. Calix

Disclaimer: Vision of Escaflowne is not mine… Yet. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! But it will be! Just you wait and see!

Doctor: Could we have an ambulance to take her to the hospital please? Oh and sedate her, she's dangerous.

Ambulance arrives.

RETURN TO HARMONY Chapter Two: Calix 

"Calix."

She blinked her eyes, her vision still more than a little whoozy. She thought she'd heard somebody saying her name. Unbidden, a yawn came from her mouth that she tried to suppress but couldn't. Rubbing her eyes, Calix could just make out two figures standing in front of her. When her vision had cleared she gave them both a weak smile.

"Sophie. Tish."

The taller one of them sighed. "Cal, Lit's over. You do know that you were asleep for the whole period, right?"

"Over?" Calix looked around her. The three of them were indeed the only ones left in the classroom. "Oh, rats. Sorry Sophie, Tish. I didn't mean to fall asleep."

"Yeah, well it was surprising," Tish said as she watched Calix gather up her stuff. "Lit's one of your favorite subjects, Cal. And you've been acting like a walking zombie all day. What's up?"

_Good point_, Calix thought with a grimace. _I wish I knew_. She was more than aware of her behavior the entire day. It seemed everyone had commented on it. She had been very… unCalix-like.

"I-I don't know, okay? I just didn't get enough sleep last night. Bad dream," Calix explained as the three of them walked out the classroom. Sophie and Tish seemed to buy her excuse. For the meantime.

"So are you going to Dave's party later?" Tish asked, changing the subject.

Calix frowned. She wasn't in the mood for parties. "I dunno, Tish… I'll see if I can come."

Tish ogled at her. "What on earth is that supposed to mean, Calixta? It's a Friday night, for godssakes! School's over. You deserve a break and don't you dare spring me some lame excuse as to why you won't be able to go!"

"_Don't_ call me Calixta! You know I hate that. And besides, I still have to stay late in school today. I missed dissection in Biology last Wednesday and I have to perform the lab routine today so Mr. Wilkes can grade me."

"You're not going home with us?" Sophie asked, surprised.

Calix shook her head. "I think I'll be a while. And I'll _try_ to make it to the party," she added when she saw Tish open her mouth. "You guys go on ahead. Don't wait on me."

Sophie looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Okay. Take care, alright?"

Calix nodded her assent and gave her two friends a grin before they walked off. Tish looked back one last time before yelling to Calix, "Don't forget about the party, Cal! You _have _to be there."

Calix rolled her eyes as her two friends walked out of the school building. Sighing, she made her way over to the laboratories. Mr. Wilkes had told her to wait if he wasn't there when she arrived. Calix swung her backpack listlessly as she entered the clean and impossibly white Biology lab. Immediately, she felt at ease. Calix liked the sterile environment of labs. She was always comfortable there.

"Ah, Calix," Mr. Wilkes was standing by one of the tables. "Wait here just one moment and I'll fetch the equipment and the specimen."

Calix nodded as Mr. Wilkes left. She placed her bag on one of the tables and brought her head to her hands. She still felt a little dizzy and her mind was a whirl. Cal reached inside her bag for her cd player so she had some music to calm her nerves but a tatty, medium-sized notebook fell out. Calix blinked as she saw it. She picked it up and turned it over. It was her mother's journal.

Gran had given it to her that morning before she left for school. Her old house – the one she had lived in with her parents – was going to be demolished tomorrow and Gran had found her mother's journal among the old things that littered the attic. Cal sighed. She ran a hand across the tattered cover of the notebook. Aside from the journal, the only thing that Calix had left of her mother was the pendant that she always wore on her neck.

Calix fingered the pendant. It always reminded her of her mother. The pendant had once been her mother's and when she was a child, Calix had never seen her mother without the pendant. It was a strange pendant that hung on a delicate, silvery chain. It was transparent, glittery and seemed to be made of a pure, clear mineral. On its surface were queer etchings. When she was a child and her mother had given her the pendant on her sixth birthday, Calix had asked her about the markings on the pendant.

_Her mother laughed and hugged Calix, "It's in another language, Callie-dallie."_

_"Another language? What language, mommy?"_

_"That's my little secret! But you'll know one day."_

_"Then tell me what it says, mommy."_

_"You really want to know?"_

_"Yes!"_

_"The writings say _Lifegiver, Lightbringer_."_

_"What's that supposed to mean, mommy?"_

_"You'll find out one day…"_

But Calix never found out. Her father died when she was nine years old and a few months after that her mother disappeared. She was never seen again and everyone took her for dead. Calix had been lost, confused and had been about to be sent to the orphanage when her grandparents stepped in.

She had never seen her grandparents before that incident. The only thing Calix had known about her grandparents were that they were filthy rich and they had disowned her father after he had married a woman who they considered beneath their station. Before they came to claim her, Calix had never seen them before. She lived with them now, though.

She had to admit, Gran and Gramps weren't so bad. Calix knew they were trying to make up for disowning their son by taking care of their granddaughter, and most of the time she didn't mind. Gran and Gramps were less strict than most parents but they did have a _teeny_ tendency to be overprotective. It nearly exhausted Calix to try and convince them that a limo and chauffeur was the last thing she needed.

Calix drummed her fingers on the lab table. Thinking about the past depressed her. But she couldn't help it.

She closed her eyes and tried to soothe herself. She needed to be calm in order to concentrate on dissecting the darned frog in a while. But whenever she closed her eyes, her mind went back to the dream she had the previous night.

Which was stupid really, considering she didn't even remember the dream! All Calix could remember was waking up in the dead of the night in a sweat, and being supremely terrified. Whenever she tried to think back to the dream, all she got was a misty haze and a headache. She'd tried to put it out of her mind but it had plagued her all throughout the day. And it seemed all her teachers had noticed. Cal grimaced. Lovely day she was having.

"Calix."

She looked up as Mr. Wilkes entered the room carrying the instruments and a squirming frog. He laid them on the table in front of Calix.

"Alright, you may begin."

Calix took a deep breath and tried to put the strange dream of last night out of her mind. Her hand was faintly shaking. She pulled the white rubber gloves over her hands and concentrated on purging her mind of everything not related to dissecting the wriggling frog before her.

Her hands grasped the frog and it seemed they were doing things of their own accord. Dozens of practice in lab procedures and her hands were already used to it. Most girls thought that dissecting animals was disgusting business but Calix never minded. She liked doing anything practical related to science. She found the world of science aloof, detached, emotionless and yet strangely comforting.

Everything seemed to go in fast forward. Before she knew it, she was putting the scalpel aside and pulling open the frog's guts while pointing and naming the animal's internal organs. Mr. Wilkes nodded approvingly as she wrapped up her recitation. He nodded, seemingly satisfied when she finished.

"Excellent work, Calix. Full marks."

Calix smiled weakly. Somehow, the event of getting full marks in Biology didn't exactly make her feel that good.

"Let me just grade you in my record book and I'll come back here to fetch the instruments and the frog, alright?"

"Yes, Mr. Wilkes."

She watched as he walked out of the lab. Grimacing, Calix aligned the instruments neatly. Her left hand was still pinning a squirming frog whose guts were nearly spilling out.

Though her performance with dissection was flawless, Calix knew her mind was still muddled. She couldn't take her mind off the dream – whatever it was she had dreamed of. She huffed in irritation as she closed her eyes and tried – God please make this work! – to remember her dream. She knew she would get no peace of mind until she recalled the dream that had been pestering her.

She thought hard and forced herself to remember. All that came to mind was a white mist that swirled around in her head and seemed to cloud her thoughts. A pounding headache seemed to be imminent but Calix ignored it and concentrated more. This time, though, a strange thing happened. Her hands inside the rubber gloves seemed to tingle and grow hot. Calix winced, still ignored it and concentrated even _harder_. All she got was a splitting headache.

Calix spewed out some choice swear words before opening her eyes and shaking off the cobwebs of her brain. The frog was still pinned by her left hand. Scowling, Calix removed her hand and glowered at it. The frog merely croaked at her.

_Wait a second_. Calix did a double take and nearly fell off the chair she was sitting on.

The frog was in perfect condition.

"What the – "

Gone were the neat incisions she had made in the middle of its body. Gone were the nearly spilled-out guts. Gone was the icky fluid and other slimy stuff from the frog's insides. It was all right. Like nothing had ever happened to it. Like it had never been dissected.

Disbelieving, Calix held it down while she examined the frog's belly. No marks to show that a scalpel had even scratched it. She blinked. What the hell had just happened!

Even as she asked herself the question, Calix knew and dreaded the answer. This hadn't occurred since she was a kid.

It had all started when she was five years old. They had once lived in a small house by the edge of a forest and Calix loved to explore the forest and play there. One day she had found a hawk, wounded by the forest. Its left wing appeared to be broken. Out of compassion – or pure childish curiosity – she had held the wounded wing. A few seconds later the wounded wing was no more and the hawk flew away, perfectly well again. It wasn't just the hawk. Calix had tried it numerous times with other animals.

When her parents died, though, she had stopped and began to think of her powers as freakish. Since then, Calix had suppressed them and never used them again. Until now.

"Oh crap."

"Calix?" Mr. Wilkes was back. Just great.

Calix covered the frog with a hand as she looked up at Mr. Wilkes and forced a smile.

"I've already graded you. You may go now. Please put the frog in the bucket there before you leave."

Calix nodded numbly as she stood up, bag slung over one shoulder and frog on the other hand. She hurriedly dropped the frog into the bucket, removed the rubber gloves and ran out of the laboratory.

She didn't stop running until she was well out of the school building. Even though it was a cool, breezy twilight, Calix found herself sweating. There were no more students around and Calix was grateful for that.

"What on earth just happened?" she muttered as she took measured, even steps.

No one answered the question. Out of habit, Calix's hand strayed to grip her pendant for whatever comfort it could offer. The pendant, though, felt warm and tingly. Taken aback, the girl released her hand and stared at it.

It was _glowing_. Not the quiet type. More like pulsating brightly in the arriving night. Trepidation filled her heart. What the bloody _hell_ was happening!

"Maybe I should have taken Sophie and Tish up on that offer to wait for me," she mumbled.

Calix was scared now. Something was going on with her, with the pendant. _With every darned thing in my life!_ She reached for the pendant's chain and tried to pull it off but it wouldn't budge. Like it was stuck to her neck or something. She wasn't just scared now. She was somewhere between frightened and panicking.

Looking around, Calix saw that there was no one to help her. Most of the students had gone home. _Way to go, Cal. Perfect timing,_ she sarcastically told herself. Instinctively, she felt something was going to happen.

Calix tugged harder at the pendant but it remained immobile, gently pulsating in the middle of her neck.

"Stupid pendant! Let go!" she cried. It might as well have been in vain. The pendant seemed immune to her words.

Without warning the pendant flared brightly, momentarily blinding Calix. She exclaimed loudly as she covered her eyes. When she blinked them open, her entire body was tingling. She looked around her in disbelief.

She was in the middle of a tall pillar of light that reached up to the sky. Her eyes widened but before she could do anything, before she could escape or run away, she heard a rushing sound and everything faded to blackness.


	3. Welcome to Gaia

**Disclaimer: Vision of Escaflowne is not mine… Sob! **

RETURN TO HARMONY Chapter Three: Welcome To Gaia 

"This place is beautiful. Good choice, Hitomi," Millerna complimented as she looked around.

The queen laughed and nodded. "I know. This was the place where Van would take me when he started teaching me how to ride a horse. After the riding lessons, we'd just come back here to talk or spend some time together."

They were in the middle of a picturesque meadow somewhere in the outskirts of Fanelia. No matter how much Hitomi wished that she, Millerna and Merle could have gone to the picnic on their own, it was practically unheard of for the queen of Fanelia to go outside the castle without the proper escorts. Off to one side were the three soldiers that had come with them and Jemme, Hitomi's personal maid.

"So Hitomi," Merle said after she had run back to them. "Will you tell us exactly what the purpose of this picnic is?"

Hitomi smiled and quirked an eyebrow. "What? I'm not allowed to indulge in picnics with two of my closest friends?"

"Nice try, queenie," Merle shot back. "After years of living with you, I can almost read you as well as I can read King Van and I can definitely see that something's bothering you."

The comment caught Millerna's attention and she looked back at Hitomi. "Something's bothering you? What is it?"

"Anything to do with what I saw in the kitchen yesterday?" Merle piped up.

Hitomi sighed but before she could answer Millerna put up another question, "Wait. What do you mean what you saw in the kitchen yesterday?"

Merle made a face. "I went to fetch Hitomi from the kitchen yesterday to tell her you were here but when I found her, she seemed all lost in thought. Like she was looking at something that wasn't there."

That tidbit caught Millerna's attention. "Is Merle trying to tell me that you had a vision, Hitomi?"

"Oooh!" Merle's ears pricked up. "A vision?"

Hitomi sighed as Jemme laid a soft blanket on the ground. She murmured her thanks to her maid and proceeded to sit down on it. Merle and Millerna followed suit, their expressions still demanding an explanation. The queen grimaced.

"Alright, alright! I had a vision yesterday and it's been bothering me. Happy?"

Millerna adjusted her skirts all around her. "Have you told Van?"

Hitomi frowned. "No. Not yet."

Merle stared at her. "What! Why not?"

"That's part of what's been bothering me. I don't want to tell Van yet because the vision didn't make any sense," Hitomi confided.

Millerna frowned. "Didn't make any sense? Do you mean it was cloudy or – "

"No! Nothing like that. The image was very clear but it made no sense at all."

"What was the image?" Merle asked curiously as Jemme set a big basket of food on the blanket with them.

Hitomi sighed. "There was darkness all around me. As though I were floating in an endless black void. The image was something I saw in front of me. In the center was this round, flat crystal that had strange thing inscribed on it. And on either side of it were two girls and they seemed to be reaching for it. The weird part is that they both looked exactly the same. The only thing that was different was the color of their hair and eyes."

"That's all?" Merle asked.

"No. A voice said something then."

"What did it say?"

"Only in unity can there be balance. Only when they join together can there be peace. Let the dark meet light and the light meet dark and when they complete the broken circle, let harmony return," Hitomi recited.

"That is strange. And that was all?" Millerna prodded.

"Yes. After that, Merle slapped me on the head." Merle giggled at that.

"The eerie thing is the last part. Let harmony return? But Gaia is already at peace. There's no need for harmony to return," Hitomi voiced out.

"You're right," Millerna assented. "How very queer…"

"Well I think you should tell King Van about it," Merle told Hitomi.

Hitomi opened her mouth to say something when a bright pillar of light dropped down from the sky. She gasped. Millerna, Merle, Jemme and the three soldiers saw it too and they exclaimed. The pillar of light. The very same one that had brought Hitomi from the Mystic Moon into Gaia. What – or who – was it delivering now? It ended somewhere by the edge of the meadow.

One fleeting thought crossed Hitomi's mind as she jumped up. _Does it have anything to do with my vision?_ A few moments later, the pillar of light dissipated. Hitomi knew she had to find out what it had brought, what had caused it and why.

Without another word, she hiked up her skirts and ran to the spot where the pillar of light had ended. Footfalls followed close behind her and Hitomi knew without looking that they belonged to Millerna and Merle. One of the soldiers had called out to her but when she refused to acknowledge it, all three of them ran after her.

Although she had not gone to a track meet since she came here to Gaia, Hitomi still kept in top running shape by practicing. Now that practice was paying off and soon she was near the spot where the pillar of light had ended. Hitomi could see a figure was lying there. She hurried her pace. When she got to where the figure was lying down, she skidded to a stop and nearly fainted both from shock and the fatigue of running so fast.

Merle saw Hitomi's frighteningly pale face. Frowning, the cat-lady looked at the girl lying on the ground.

It didn't take a genius to figure out she was from the Mystic Moon. Her clothes were strange. Not like Hitomi's but Merle knew no one else in Gaia dressed like that. She was wearing trousers made from some strange, blue material and a loose shirt but Merle could see that the shirt was designed for a girl. And she was a very pretty girl too.

She was slender, and her dark, glossy hair was fanned out behind her. Her features were delicate and her skin pearly white. Merle wondered what had caused Hitomi's reaction to the girl.

Hitomi was also staring at the girl, more intensely than Merle was. She recognized that face. The queen knew that behind the closed eyelids, the girl had strange silver violet eyes.

It was the girl from her vision.

She blinked. Unbidden, a groan rose out of her mouth. Calix grimaced as her vision cleared. Confused, she looked around. She was in a large, airy room. It had a medievalish look and feel to it, but it was very lovely. Tapestries and paintings adorned the walls, soft rugs were spread out on the floor and the furniture was beautiful. Calix herself was lying on a large, canopied bed.

Frowning, she tried to recall what had happened to her. Dissection, the frog being mended up, the glowing pendant, the pillar of light and the deep blackness…

"…Shit!" she exclaimed as she shot up on the bed. Where was she?

"Don't worry," a soft voice said. "You're safe."

Calix trained her eyes to the direction of the voice. A woman stepped out of the shadows and smiled at Calix. The woman was beautiful, with long honey hair and brilliant green eyes. Calix noticed she was wearing a long, flowing gown. She felt like she had been dropped in some sort of strange play where she didn't know the story, the characters or her role.

"Where am I? Who are you? What is this place?" she couldn't stop herself from blurting out.

The woman laughed. "Okay, okay, one question at a time."

The woman pulled a chair from a nearby desk near the bed where Calix was sitting and began to talk, "Firstly, you want to know where you are?"

Dumbfounded, Calix nodded.

"You're in the castle of the kingdom of Fanelia," the woman gently told her.

Calix's eyebrows shot up. "I beg your pardon. The where!"

The woman sighed. "I guess this isn't going to be as easy to explain as I thought. Stand up, I have something to show you."

Calix pushed the blankets back and stood up. She noticed she was still in her shirt and jeans. The woman led her to a balcony. Calix hesitantly followed. The balcony looked out into a picturesque view of a beautiful landscape. It nearly took Calix's breath away. It was only then that she noticed.

"Hey, wait. I'm on a castle!"

The woman smiled. "I know. But that's not what I wanted you to see. Look up at the sky."

Calix obediently did as the woman asked and couldn't prevent herself from gasping. The dawn sky was just lightening with pastel hues. Up on the sky though, instead of the single silvery moon that usually lit the night sky, there were _two_ moons! One of them was the moon as Calix knew it but the other one… It looked like…

"Is that… Is that Earth!" she exclaimed.

The woman was looking at her amusedly. "Yes. Yes it is. This is not Earth. Basically, that's what I've been trying to tell you. This planet is called Gaia."

Calix blinked. "I believe you failed Science class in elementary. There are only nine planets in the solar system and as I recall, none of them was named Gaia," she declared, sarcastically.

The woman sighed. "I know it's hard to believe but just listen to me, okay? You really are on Gaia. It's not visible from Earth and you have all the proof you need up there," she indicated the sky. "The kingdom of Fanelia is here on Gaia and that's where you are right now."

Calix was having a somewhat hard time believing everything that was being said to her. But the proof was before her right now. Her head was spinning.

"Come on back inside," the woman said.

Calix followed. They walked back inside and sat down on the edge of the bed. There was silence for a few moments then the woman spoke, "My name's Hitomi. Hitomi de Fanel," she smiled a bit before she continued, "Queen of Fanelia."

Calix did a double take at the woman again. There was a circlet of gold around her forehead. Queen? "Oh, um well… Am I supposed to call you Your Highness or…"

Hitomi laughed. "No. Just call me Hitomi. What's your name?"

"Calixta Fairfax. Call me Calix."

"I guess you're pretty confused right now. Don't be. I was the same when I first came here. Believe it or not, I also grew up on Earth and I came here when I was somewhere around your age."

Calix's eyes widened. "Shut up. No way! You came from Earth?"

Hitomi nodded. "I was born there…" she began. Over the next few minutes, she told her story to an astounded Calix. How she had met Van, was taken to Fanelia, her abilities to see the future, everything, right down to the downfall of the Zaibach Empire.

"Wow," was all Calix could say when Hitomi had finished. Then she burst out laughing. "Wow! That's awesome."

Hitomi looked amusedly at the girl's reaction before continuing hesitantly, "Calix, I had a vision yesterday…"

"Really?" Calix's bright eyes were questioning. "Being able to see the future is so cool! What was it about?"

"In the vision I saw you and another girl. She looked exactly like you, except she had blond hair and blue eyes," Hitomi saw Calix's expression change to a confused one. "I also saw a crystal disk and that was all. Then a voice said something." Hitomi repeated the words she had heard to Calix.

"I-I don't know what that means. I honestly don't know what your vision is talking about. I'm an only child. And if the other girl did look like me, then why was the color of her hair and eyes different?" Calix's eyes widened as she realized something. "Are you trying to tell me that one of the reasons why I might be here is because of your vision?"

Hitomi nodded. "You see, I was brought here partly because of my abilities to see the future," she searched the young girl's face. "Do you have any strange powers that might have been the reason why you're here?"

At that, Calix paused. The incident with the frog was still very fresh in her mind and all at once, her childhood memories of the animals she had touched that had then gotten better assaulted her.

She shook her head. "No. I'm just… an ordinary average girl," she replied softly.

Hitomi looked at her closely before acknowledging what she said. "Okay. Maybe you'd better get some rest. Don't worry, I'll have some clothes sent up here for you. Make yourself at home and feel free to go around the castle. Don't be afraid to ask where I am whenever you need me."

Calix nodded and Hitomi smiled before standing up and walking out of the room.

Calix looked at Hitomi's retreating figure before sighing. Guilt was like a needle stabbing at her. _You should have told her about your abilities!_ a part of her mind was arguing. Another part, though, ignored it and told her she did what was best.

"Besides, I don't really know anyone around here," she muttered to herself as she examined her hands.

She liked Hitomi – good Lord the woman was a queen! – but Calix knew better than to trust strangers especially in a different place. _Make that a different planet_, she thought and winced. Gaia. The place was alien and very unfamiliar. A thousand miles away from the home that she had known.

Her hand crept up to the pendant that lay around her neck. She felt better holding it, even if it was the reason why she was here in the first place. Calix brought it closer and examined the smooth surface. _Lifegiver. Lightbringer_. Did her mother know anything about her powers? Argh!

This wasn't helping. Calix desperately wanted to cry out of fatigue, the fact that she was in a foreign land and because crying sounded so bloody comforting. But she held back. Crying was not something cynical, sarcastic, realistic Calix indulged in.

She perked up, though, when she heard voices outside her door. The voices were female. One sounded girlish, and the other sounded purring and catlike. She stood up from the bed. They sounded like they were arguing. A moment later, the voices stopped. Calix stood frozen on the spot as she saw her door slowly creaking open. For a moment, no one came in. And then two figures appeared.

The first one shocked Calix. It seemed to be something of a cross between a cat and a female. It was built like a woman, but had fur, pointy ears, amber eyes, claws and a tail. The strange part, though, was that it was talking. The other one was a girl about her age. She had dark blond hair and garnet red eyes. The two girls who entered were standing a ways from Calix, looking hesitantly at her.

The cat-lady walked up to her first. "Hi. My name's Merle and this is Larissa."

Calix blinked. "Are you for real?"

The cat-lady growled as though insulted. The other girl, Larissa, shushed her. "Stop it, Auntie Merle. She's probably not used to seeing you. Mother said that there aren't any people like you in her world."

Larissa then stepped forward and smiled at Calix, "Sorry about that. We just wanted to see how you were doing. Auntie Merle was one of the people who saw you being brought here by a pillar of light and took you to the castle."

"You – you found me?" Calix was slightly embarrassed now. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean what I said with that comment, um, because… ah…"

The cat-lady, Merle, surprised her by laughing. "Don't worry about that. You probably do think I'm pretty strange. But I get that a lot."

Calix smiled a bit before speaking, "Um, well, nice to meet you. I'm Calix."

"Calix. That's a nice name," Larissa complimented. "I see you met my mother."

Calix was confused for a moment. "I'm sorry? Your mother?"

Merle licked a paw as she ran over to where Calix's backpack was and began examining it. "Yeah. You met her a while ago. Hitomi. She's Larissa's mother."

"Oh. She was your mother? Then that would make you a princess," Calix said.

Larissa laughed. "Yes, actually. But please don't call me princess or any of those other royal titles," she grinned impishly with a twinkle in her eye. "I just prefer being Larissa."

"So… why are you here?" Calix wanted to know.

"Well, Larissa here wanted to see you," Merle replied rolling her eyes as she walked back to the two.

Larissa nodded. "And, um, I also figured you would be lonely. I mean I know what that feels like. Being princess, I'm almost always cooped up in here and I've only got a few friends. But since you're new here and unfamiliar about everything, I figured you kind of needed friends too. So can we? Be friends, I mean."

Calix looked from Larissa to Merle and back again. Friends. Here she was in a distant land, confused and most definitely lost and these two were offering to be her friends. Calix felt touched. She offered them a smile.

"Sure."

They were in a small, circular tower room whose windows looked out to the rugged terrain of the mountains.

"Damn it, Katya! You had but one task and that was to look after the girl! You were supposed to make sure she did nothing to foil our plans!"

"I _know_ that, Lightner."

"Ah, then pray tell explain _how_ she got here when she's supposed to be on the Mystic Moon!" the sarcasm and anger in his voice were extremely evident.

"For the umpteenth time, _I don't know_. All my informant tells me is that her necklace just started glowing and a pillar of light dropped from the sky and took her here."

"Pillars of light do not just drop from the sky without anyone causing them to drop. Someone knew. Someone wanted her here."

"That's impossible, Lightner. No one knows of our plans."

"Apparently, someone does." His tone was icy. "I want you to find out who that someone is. _Understood?_"

"Yes."

"Well… since it is too late to rectify your mistake, we must make sure the girl never finds out about our plans. Where is she right now?"

"She… The light dropped her somewhere in the outskirts of Fanelia. We wanted to retrieve her but it turns out the queen of Fanelia was there on a picnic and got to her first."

"_Damn it_. Ever since she came here, that _Seeress_ has brought only misfortune. As long as the girl is with her, our plans are still threatened."

"Well what do you want me to do?"

"The only obvious solution, of course…"

The man called Lightner paused and his blood-red eyes seemed to flicker.

"Kill the girl."


End file.
